So Zhou reportedly noted as a great producer of beautiful women. But they only come out at night (the days are much too bright).
So far, the scenery has been pretty disappointing.
We ferried around for a bit, but still no hot women. What on earth are these people talking about?
Ok, now this is more like it. Click on the photo for a shot video clip of these ladies playing.
The performance took place in the retirement place of some long-dead rich guy. We took a tour around the palcea afterwards. The grounds are enormous and all built by hand.
The idea was create false mountains, streams and forests, so that the lord of the manor need never leave the walls of his residence to see the beauty of the world outside. Plus, he got to see performances like the one above whenever the hell he wanted to.
Imagine this: some schmoe actually had to get down on his hands and knees to construct this patter out of pebbles.
In a time of polygamy and in an absence of human rights/labour laws, ancient China must have been a great time to be have been wealthy.
Every time someone Chinese sees this photo, they freak out, claiming that it's named in some famous poem. I should know what this poem is, since I'm sure I've studied it in Chinese school when I was a kid. But until I can recall it, it's just a yellow wall.
Still trying to figure out why this place is special. I mean, why it's special in a historical sense. It's another incredible place, with probably years and years of human labout behind its construction - but I don't know why we're here. I've given up and am just going to enjoy the surroundings for now.
Apart from elegant retirement homes and beautiful women, So Zhou is also known for its high-quality silk production. Here we are in a silk production facility. It's laid out in the same sweat-shop style that is so popular all across this country.
These egg-looking things are actually cocoons of silk that are made by a silk worm. They haven't been processed yet, and there's something insane, like a kilometer of silk thread in each of these spools.
These women are pulling out a wad of silk, into a layer for a blanket. I ended up buying one of them for my parents' anniversary, and a dress for Frances. Click the photo to see my uncle in the background, poking at the silk while they work. =)
More women. At the end of the silk factory tour, they took us into a dark room with a catwalk. Soon the spot lights came on, as did "Baby One More Time" and the models came out. They should have models walking around at the end of every factory tour. It'd definitely make those pottery places more interesting.
After the silk factory, we went to see the largest Buddah statue in the world. Bigger than the seated one in HK, and bigger than the golden one in Thailand. This thing was enormous. Far away from the parking lot too.
This is a wall that was about halfway between the bus and the Buddah. It depicts a ton of people doing something near water. I'm sorry I can't be more informative here, but I don't retain details very well. It looked cool though.
En route home, we encountered more traffic delays. We stopped moving after 15 minutes of driving and it looked for a while like we weren't ever going to start up again. The driver even abandoned the bus (well, the thing we're riding in is more like a couch with wheels than a bus, really). Not a good sign.
Finally got to the restaurant and got some food. I think this is the hungriest I'd been the entire trip. They really need to do something about the traffic here...like outlaw cars. Don't scoff. In a country like this, it's entirely possible. In other news, I just ran out of underwear. This just keeps getting better and better.